The Fragility Of West Africa's Internet

When the ACE Submarine cable cut out on March 30th, a bigger part of West Africa found itself in the dark as far as internet connectivity is concerned for as long as more than 48 hours.
The breach came off the coast of Mauritania and the country was one of the most affected with no internet for 48 hours before connectivity was partially restored.

Outages Stats

Other countries that had alternatives like terrestrial cable and satellite connections to route around the breach had connectivity but some areas in those countries were affected to a larger extent.
Such fragility witnessed is not only dangerous but could also lead to billions of dollars in losses if the impacts are felt across an economic bloc like we witnessed.
Facebook's solar drones and Alphabet's balloons are seeking to solve these problems but there is need for more investments in network infrastructure to have more reliable internet connections across the continent.